Boss Tanaka describes himself as a Meat Sommelier , after a life time in the trade he has built an empire , 18 restaurants in Japan with new ventures soon to open in Singapore and Dubai ( perhaps HK too ) .
Despite this he spends 6 nights a week , cooking for a counter of 9 guests at his flag ship restaurant . Work ethic is clearly insane .

For Nikuyatanaka Ginza , he buys an entire cow roughly every 2 weeks , he is looking for female cattle only , virgin and 45-51 months in age . This is roughly twice the age that Wagyu cattle are generally slaughtered . This results in a soft and tender flavour and slightly less fat .

The menu runs for 13 courses , 9 of which feature the beef .

47 month female Kobe beef - the first bite , tender and marbled , almost tastes like Maguro .

Beef and turbot roll- one of his signatures , clean and umami laden
Confit Botan shrimp with caviar - beautifully cooked shrimp
Kobe rump tataki - charcoal flavour comes thru , once again the meat and its juices is transcending

Fugu shirako with black truffle - shirako and truffle 👌

Beef tongue roast - this tongue was cooked in front of us for an around an hour , with various charcoal cooking methods . It was so light and flavourful

Shabu Shabu with oboro kelp - a little too subtle for me and found the kelp too strong

Ramen with beef consommé - great broth

Kobe beef tenderloin - I rarely order tenderloin but this was terrific , its temperature and texture was tender yet somehow reminiscent of raw squid , the skin approached Peking duck level of crisp and a light smoke ring had also formed despite minimal cooking . This was art .